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Building a Building: Nuclear Plant Component Makers See Growth

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A company called Report Linker has released a, well, report called “Nuclear Energy Technologies Worldwide: Components and Manufacturing.” It can be yours for the low, low price of $3,195 (we get the idea of pricing something at $9.95, but we think Report Link could have gone sporty and priced this at $3,200). We checked for change under the couch cushions, then decided to settle for the press release instead:

The U.S. is the global leader in nuclear energy technology manufacturing, having a total market value of nearly $45.2 billion in 2002 and growing to an estimated $50.8 billion by year-end 2009. By 2013, SBI estimates that the U.S. market value will reach $61.1 billion, growing at an eleven-year Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.8%.

The U.S., France, and Japan comprise more than half of the global value of nuclear energy technology manufacturing. SBI estimates that France’s market value will grow from $28.9 billion in 2009 to $34.8 billion in 2013 (3.4% CAGR) and Japan will grow from $19.6 billion to $23.7 billion (3.4%) in 2013.

They also report that South Korea and China are rising quickly and offer the somewhat puzzling news that the Netherlands and Pakistan are developing into potent nuclear component suppliers. Okay, the Netherlands maybe, but Pakistan seems shaky enough to ward off big orders. We frankly think they may be underestimating U.S. growth, but that may be because they count only American companies and not Japanese (Toshiba, Hitachi), French (AREVA, EDF) and other foreign outfits operating here.

But it’s a press release: we could always forgo that elective surgery we’ve been eyeing and buy the book to delve into the details. What’s heartening is that the numbers continue trending upward – the nuclear business is fully mature (wind, solar, biomass and so on are not yet so and will probably see growth described as “explosive” – assuming the energy/climate change bill in Congress isn’t watered down to gruel.) So while the percentages offered are small, they are positive and the real numbers are in the billions. We’ll take it.

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